Build It From Below: Anarchist People Of Color Regional Gatherings

For APOC to grow and thrive as a viable force for folks of color in the so-called United States, more base-building needs to take place. More input from people across the country is needed to shape what APOC movement will look like, and what it will achieve in the coming years.

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Build It From Below: A Collective APOC Statement

* Posted by apoc
* July 2, 2008

This is a call to all Autonomous / Anti-authoritarian / Anarchist People Of Color across North America to begin assembling APOC formations in your hoods, communities and regions!

A small but nationwide listserv is in the early stages of planning a national APOC gathering in the coming year. APOCistas on the conference list are encouraged by APOC gatherings that have taken place recently at anarchist bookfairs, conferences and convergences across the country, which have been spurred in part by conversations occurring on a national level.

For APOC to grow and thrive as a viable force for folks of color in the so-called United States, more base-building needs to take place. More input from people across the country is needed to shape what APOC movement will look like, and what it will achieve in the coming years.

Folks on the conference listserv encourage you to start bringing together APOC formations in your hoods, communities and regions, and to develop sustained APOC projects that will help contribute to broad radical struggle, and a national APOC conference too.

These projects could be anything, really. For instance:

* An APOC listserv in your area, if there isn’t one already
* A virtual collective, e.g. print and editorial groups producing and distributing APOC content
* A regular APOC social gathering in your area, at which APOCers can come together, make connections, and spin off projects and ideas
* A specifically APOC collective, meeting regularly in your city/town and developing its own actions
* A community space or social center managed by and for folks of color

The possibilities are really endless. We strongly encourage all Autonomous / Anti-authoritarian / Anarchist People of Color to build from the connections and conversations taking place at APOC gatherings across the country, and develop more sustained APOC movement in their areas. Here are a few gatherings that are coming up in the next few months:

APOC Caucuses at Earth First! Round River Rendezvous
Athens, OH, July 4th at 12pm, July 5th at lunch
www.roundriverrondy.info

Autonomous/ Anti-Authoritarian/ Anarchist People Of Color from across the Northeast (and beyond) are gathering in Philly this summer to build a new vision for the future, and a new plan of action for today. We want to expand our understanding of race, class, gender, autonomy, and freedom - while attacking white supremacy, imperialism, colonialism, and ALL borders, boundaries, and barriers.

Please join us Friday and Saturday, August 8th-9th for the APOC Northeast Regional Conference in Philadelphia!

Friday evening will feature films related to APOC movement.
Saturday will feature a full day of talks, panels, and workshops.
Saturday night will culminate with an APOC Rocks! hip hop, punk rock, and poetry concert.

There will also be free (and cheap) food available as well as APOC ‘zines, books, t-Shirts y mas for the masses.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

FRIDAY EVENING, AUG 8TH • 6PM – 12AM

Film screenings all night (at The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St)

Born In Flames • 1983 (6:30PM): Documentary-style feminist science fiction film by anarchist of color Lizzie Borden, that explores racism, classism, sexism and heterosexism in an alternative United States Socialist Democracy.

Notes on A Paper Plane! • 2008 (8:15PM): Short fictional film about a black girl from Harlem who tries to sell an anarchist newspaper in the ‘hood.

Frame Up • 1974 (8:45PM): A documentary examining the case of Afro Rican anarchist/activist and book store owner Martin Sostre, framed on drug possession charges and unjustly imprisoned for nearly a decade.

MACHETERO • 2007 (9:30PM): A French journalist interviews a so called Puerto Rican “terrorist” about his decision to use violence as a means of liberation. A Q&A with vagabond the writer and director of MACHETERO will take place after the screening.

SCREENINGS ARE OPEN TO ALLIES OF ANY COLOR

MOVE DOCUMENTARY @ 7PM
Also screening on the same evening at 7PM (at Clark Park, 43rd & 45th Sts, Between Chester & Woodland Ave) will be MOVE: A documentary on the MOVE Organization and the ongoing repression suffered at the hands of the Philadelphia police department and the US justice system

***SATURDAY, AUG 9TH •10AM – 8PM***

A day of talks/ panels/ discussions related to APOC movement and people of color.

THESE APOC TALKS/WORKSHOPS/PANELS
ARE RESERVED FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR

10AM - 10:45AM

APOC-ALYPSE NOW… AND LATER
What were the trials and tribulations facing APOC regionally following the 2003 conference in Detroit? What lessons have people learned about APOC organizing since then, and what can this tell us about moving forward?

11:00 - 11:45AM

THE BALLOT IS A BULLET
A lot of political discussion and mobilization in the U.S. is currently focused on the Obama campaign. How can we make best use of the energy coming up from the grassroots during the 2008 election, with an eye for local action, responsibility and substantive change instead of politicians and party politics?

12PM - 12:45PM

SEIZE THE TIME
This is an OPEN time allotted for networking, exchanging info, and building together.

12:45M - 1:45PM

BREAK FOR LUNCH

2PM - 2:45PM

PLANNING FOR WHEN THE SHIT GOES DOWN:
What you need to do and what you should know.

How is communication in our movements shaped, directed, and in some cases limited by technology? How can we communicate in spite of and beyond technology, and why is this necessary?

3PM - 3:45PM

AT WAR
Let’s take stock of the continuing (500 years and counting) war on blackness. We are at war)!

4PM - 4:45PM

CLASS BARRIERS
Many people currently involved in APOC movement have moved through a university setting at some point, and sometimes this is a significant part of people’s politicization. But while we examine how APOC relates to already-existing movements of people of color, we also ask: how can people relate to APOC movement and plug in if they do not come from an institutionalized educational background?

5PM - 5:45PM

THE CITY IS KILLING ME
Ever wonder why there are so many Mc Donald’s in the ‘hood, but organic milk is like the holy grail? This workshop will look at how city planning and zoning don’t just affect where we live, but how we live. By looking at epidemics that disproportionately affect communities of color, we can see how a complex network of factors, from farming practices to marketing to health insurance, come together to literally make us sick. We’ll also talk some strategy for the revolutionary act of keeping ourselves healthy without relying on the food and medical systems that are designed to keep people of color in check.

6PM - 6:45PM

By / Buy Black
What are some practical steps toward economic freedom—not just improving your credit report, but controlling the conditions of your labor? What fissures in the power structure exist today that folks can exploit to live freer lives, from getting off the grid to forming collective workplaces?

7PM - 7:45PM

Self Defense For APOCs
You have a right to defend yourself. The question is do you know how? This class will focus on basic physical skills at a beginner level. If you’ve never taken a self defense class or want to check out a new style, this is for you. You won’t leave the class a ninja (if you want that, you might want to take the 45 minute “Ninja 101″ class). Come!

THESE APOC TALKS/WORKSHOPS/PANELS
ARE RESERVED FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR

MUMIA TOWN HALL MEETING @ 12 Noon

Also on the same afternoon at 12 noon, the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition will hold a Town hall meeting to Free Mumia at AFSCME 1199 Union Hall, located at 1319 Locust St. (near Juniper). (OPEN TO EVERYONE)

SATURDAY NITE CONCERT • 8PM – LATE

The Mighty Paradocs www.myspace.com/themightyparadocs

X-Vandals www.myspace.com/xvandalsboricuas

Amerikas Least Wanted www.myspace.com/amerikasleastwanted

MUSIC CONCERT IS OPEN TO ALL ALLIES OF ANY COLOR

=====================================================

Northwest APOC Gathering in August

* Posted by apoc
* July 14, 2008

Something big is in the air! Five years ago 150 Anarchist and anti-authoritarians people of color from all walks of life gathered in Detroit to begin the process of interconnecting struggle and passion towards building a new world empowered from below. Five years on, and many struggles later this movement is being rejuvenated by many old and new comrades internationally!

The one goal of the Northwest APOC Gathering is to build connections in our region and to begin conversations towards building a national anti-authoritarian / autonomous movement of people of color.

The Gathering will be split up into sessions lasting two hours each, with breaks in between. Facilitated discussions will include but are not limited to the following areas:

1. What is APOC? How do we define it? What should an APOC politic encompass?

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Sesta
dichiarazione della Selva Lacandona (Italiano)
Sexta
Declaración del la Selva Lacandona (Castellano)

Residential schools, as part of the colonial project, were made to create a disciplined working class out of Indigenous peoples. They were made to impose capitalism and cultural ideas that supported the project of the Capitalists. This article furthers the discussion of how the genocide and colonization of North America was part of the overall oppression and exploitation of the contemporary working class. This article is an anarchist response to the apologies of Settler governments in |Canada and Australia.

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It is written after the apogee of the Oaxaca rebellion, but with the certainty that this movement is not over,
that in one form or another the struggle that began in 2006 will continue. Our analysis is presented in the hope that will shed some light on Oaxaca before the uprising is mythologized (by anti-authoritarians); distorted (by all the Leninist vanguards who, in their arrogance, are eager to impart their stern “lessons” to the “masses” in Oaxaca); or simply fades away, far from the glare of the proverbial media spotlight.

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Nederlands ]

Presented by Art Forces, the Estria Foundation and NorCal Friends of Sabeel, the Oakland Palestine Solidarity Mural is a monumental work of public art located in Uptown Oakland on 26th Street between Telegraph and Broadway. The mural pays homage to the history of Bay Area public art and expresses solidarity with Palestinians as bombs continue to fall on Gaza.

The Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO) - a longtime partner of Grassroots International based in Mexico - denounced a recently conducted study in the Zapotec region by U.S. geography scholar Peter Herlihy. Prof. Herlihy failed to mention that he received funding from the Foreign Military Studies Office of the U.S. Armed Forces. The failure to obtain full, free and prior informed consent is a violation of the rights of indigenous communities as codified in the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the United Nations in 2007. In addition, UNOSJO fears that this in-depth geographical mapping of indigenous communities may be used in some harmful manner by the military.